Joint commemoration of the massacre in Cumiana

"Because all too often people think that remembrance is just preserving the past. That is not the case. Memory is also a decision for the future. It is the way in which a community decides what it wants to become after it has been wounded."

With these words, Matteo Ravera, Mayor of Boves, described during the commemoration ceremony in Cumiana what has characterized the connection between our city and its Italian partner community for 25 years. As members of the Ohm-Gymnasium school choir and orchestra who traveled to Cumiana to commemorate the fascist massacre of 1944, we were able to experience this connection in a special way.

After a long, sometimes chaotic bus ride, we arrived in Cumiana on the evening of March 27, 2026. Many of us - including the older ones - were unsure at first, as we didn't know what to expect from the host families we would be assigned to. All fears were unfounded, as we were welcomed with such warmth and cordiality that the initial uncertainty quickly gave way to a feeling of welcome.

On Saturday, we visited the cemetery in Cumiana; after laying flowers and singing a "Kyrie", we walked through the surrounding villages and the mountainous landscape around Cumiana. We were accompanied by a historian who told us about the partisans who fought against the German and Italian troops during the Second World War. The historian, Mr. Comello, told us about the courage of individual partisans and the secrecy of the people in Cumiana. And some of us asked ourselves how we would have acted ourselves. This hike offered both: to preserve the past and to decide for the future. For us, this meant getting into conversation with our Italian hosts, getting to know each other and realizing that we can communicate despite language barriers. And of course the music helped - we danced and sang together at a picnic in a forest clearing. In the evening, we enjoyed a delicious meal with our host families. Together with the residents of Cumiana, we gathered once again at 9 p.m. for a torchlight procession from the parish church of S. Maria della Motta to Cascina Riva di Caia, the site of the massacre on April 3, 1944, when SS units shot 51 civilians from Cumiana; the order came from an Obersturmführer, who was identified as a citizen of Erlangen at in 1999.

On Sunday morning, the official commemoration ceremony took place at the site of the massacre. Dignified brass bands, associations from Cumiana and neighboring communities and, above all, the people of Cumiana lined up for a march from the town hall to the Cascina Riva di Caia. Out of the silence, the names of all the victims were read out. It was a poignant moment. How many families lost a loved one as a result of the firing order? Speeches and musical contributions followed. Vashika Selvaraj (8d), Fiona Schlürmann (8e) and Milena Bernhard (9e) spoke for us young people, for our school, in fluent Italian. You might think that all the speeches were boring. No, they weren't. The words spoke to us. We young people have the task of preserving the past and going into the future with an attitude. Afterwards, the Italians invited us to a delicious, multi-course lunch together, which gave us another opportunity to exchange ideas.

In the late afternoon, the choir, orchestra and soloists rehearsed for the final concert, which took place in the evening in the church of S. Maria Assunta in the Pieve district. All items on the program were based on the idea: Peace! We were particularly impressed not only by the incredibly good acoustics of the church, but also by the large number of people, including our host families, who attended the concert. With pieces such as Peter Schindler's "Kyrie" from his "Missa in Jazz" and Michael Jackson's "Heal the World", we succeeded in showing the power of music: that it connects people with each other - even across language and national borders. After the concert, we spent the evening with our host families - some of us went for pizza in Turin, 30 km away, while others went to the surrounding villages before we finally had to say goodbye on Monday morning.

The trip to Cumiana not only gave us an understanding of the significance of historical events, but above all showed us how important it is to remember these events together. The fact that a connection based on mutual openness and responsibility can emerge from a past marked by violence and dehumanization is not self-evident - and yet, as can be seen from the connection between Erlangen and Cumiana, it is possible if both sides are prepared to go down this path. For young people like us, this experience has been particularly valuable: to see that remembrance not only concerns the past, but also the future. And that it doesn't just affect individuals, but all of us. Thank you for this experience!

Report by Sophia Rost, 11d, Ohm-Gymnasium Erlangen